The Soul Keeper

She looked nothing like Aelith. Her dark brown hair, crimson scales on her skin and a pair of blood red leathery wings gave her a rather terrifying look.

She raised her hand and a scythe materialised – one that looked much more dangerous than mine. It was a two sided scythe, both ends of the shaft had blades, though one was a small blade while the other was much like the blade of my own scythe. 

I gritted my teeth as she effortlessly spun it around herself. How many years of experience did she have with it? Decades? Centuries? Millenia? 

As my already fragile plan shattered, I felt her magic spread around. A gold – vermillion shine surrounded us. I felt it pull and my clothes and hair.

"And here I was, thinking the Ereth were weakened outside the Divine Pillar's range." While I was speaking of this quite lightly, it took quite a bit of effort to keep my voice calm.

"Oh, I am weakened." Her voice reminded me the hissing of a snake – it tried to penetrate what little mental defences I had. "But so are you, am I right Keeper?" 

I had no idea of what she was talking about. I was at my peak – my mana was nearly full, and I was as healthy I could be. "So, why are you trying to kill us? Is it Erik you're after?" I was basically trying to buy some time – time for Asher and Mona to arrive, time for Erik and the others to get somewhere safe. Time for Asher to be able to teleport me.

"Erik?" She asked, tilting her slightly. She let go of her scythe, allowing it to float by her side as she slowly approached me. "Oh," She smiled. "You mean Rohir's toy." 

My lips formed a thin line. I didn't like the way she worded any of that.

"What?" She asked, slowly approaching still. "Do you really think Rohir cares about that child?" She scoffed at the mere thought of it. "The only one who cared about her pawn was her, and the girl died first." A wicked smile formed on her face as anger and hatred welled up inside me. 

"So, to answer your question, I am not here to kill this 'Erik' boy. I am here solely for you." She glanced at the players, running towards Erik and the others. "They, however, are here to kill the boy." 

I gritted my teeth – the way she spoke, her pronunciation, her body language, everything about her annoyed me so much. I knew she was talking like that on purpose – she was trying to anger me, make me lose control, make me act rashly so I'd become easy prey.

I wasn't going to let her do that. I forced myself to take deep breaths. "And here I was thinking the Keeper was important to the Divines' plans." A wicked smile appeared on my face – Maybe I could use her own trick against her. "Or is the Demon Lord no longer a concern of you?" 

"He is Aelith's concern, not mine." She smiled. "I have other, more pressing issues to attend to – such as making sure the dead remain so."

I flinched; I didn't like the way she worded that. She almost seemed to suggest I was the previous Keeper of Souls. "I'm not the person who died all those years ago."

"But you are – maybe your personality has changed, or you have forgotten your long life, but I know you're the same person." She raised her hand. The vermillion hue of her magic grew stronger. "And I will make sure you never raise from the grave again. Ever."

Her words echoed unnaturally. Everything seemed to stop for a fraction of a second that felt like minutes. Our battle had begun right at this moment – before even our blades clashed, our magic did.

My crimson flames against her gold-vermillion mist, my will to live against her wish to kill. 

As soon as our magic clashed, we both dashed forward, though the simple yet obvious difference in our posture showed the gap in our strength and experience clearly.

I kept my body low and close to the ground, while she hovered just above the terrain. My scythe in my right hand, I swung it towards her feet as soon as I was close enough. She effortlessly spun her scythe, blocking my attack with the blade at the lower end of the shaft and attacking me with its primary blade at the same time.

I had to roll backwards to keep my head on my shoulders. "Is that all you can do?" She asked, tilting her head sideways just a little.

I gritted my teeth. Unlike me, who was basically just winging it, the Divine before me knew how to wield a scythe. I stood no chance against her like this. I let go of the dark, metal shaft of my weapon, allowing it to fade away in a dark mist and dashed at her again, this time extending my right hand.

She laughed – a full out, evil laugh – and swung her scythe again. I rolled under her attack with a bust of speed, thanks to Fallen Grace, and as soon as I was clear from the scythe's blade, swung my now empty hand towards her in a stabbing motion.

Her eyes shot open as the blade given to me by Luhen quite some time ago materialised in my hand. She beat her wings to get away but wasn't quite fast enough. My blade pierced her dress and let a deep, bloody cut at her side.

At the same time, I felt her left hand on my chest. A burst of magic blinded me as I swung my blade once more. I found myself in the air and fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

The clothes Aelith gave me had a rather large hole where she touched me, but I was mostly unharmed. As the pale scales disappeared, I sighed a breath of relief. They had just saved my life.

"How are you still alive?" I heard her voice – whatever magic she was using before to make it sound like a disgustingly sweet voice was gone. She sounded in pain and full of anger. "Why do you always refuse to die?" She screamed and her power leapt at me. The gold-vermillion mist threatened to choke me as it filled the air, not letting me breathe.

I desperately summoned the wind to scatter the mist. To my surprise, it worked, even if only a little. As I gasped for air, she dashed at me. I raised my arms and with them, a wall of flame to stop her.

She broke through the flames with less effort than I had anticipated and swung her blade towards my throat. I raised my sword just in time to stop the sharp, curved blade of her scythe. The sound of metal hitting metal echoed as our blades remained locked for a moment.

I could see her anger, and hatred in her eyes. I gritted my teeth and pushed her back with all of my strength. For a moment, it seemed like she wouldn't move a hair, but suddenly her face twisted with pain and I managed to push her away.

She stumbled a few steps backwards, then touched her side, where she was still bleeding quite a lot. Somewhat out of breath, I used this chance to regain my balance and use Death's Scythe. Still somewhat distracted by her wound, she let her guard down just a little.

I dashed forward, cutting through the gold-vermillion mist with my flames and winds. As I approached her, I noticed a shine in her eyes. All I could think of was that this was a bait. I stopped moments before reaching her, and the ground only a few steps before me exploded.

I threw myself to the side as the dusk cloud began to settle. I could hear her panting as she swung her scythe through the cloud of dust. As her blade met no resistance, her eyes widened. "You lived again?" She asked, sheer hatred dripping from her voice. 

I couldn't wrap my head around it – why did she hate me so much? What had the previous Keeper done? For all I knew, he had played a more passive role, avoiding fighting the Ereth and instead, making sure the souls of the dead demons found their resting place. What had he done to make the Divines hate him and fear him so much?

I noticed the gold-vermillion mist thicken as her face twisted. "Do you think I will let you run free once again?" She asked, her gaze focusing on me. 

"Kai, we just met up with Erik." Asher's voice echoed in my mind. "We'll be in a safe place in a few minutes, I can teleport you out of there then. Can you hold on?"

"I'll try," Was the only answer I could honestly give. 

As the Divine's power surrounding us grew thicker, I released my flames – all of them. Now, the real fight began.